Cheaters Never Win
by bellutrixlestrange
Summary: Hermione catches Ron in bed with another woman. Needless to say, she is not pleased.


"You piece of shit!" Hermione shrieked at her boyfriend of six years. "How could you?" Her face was flushed with anger, her eyes glistening with tears that threatened to spill over.

"Now, Hermione, you're overreacting." Ron tried to calm her from where he was cowering on the couch in their shared flat. There was a faint bruise that was starting to show on his left cheek from where she had slapped him a few minutes earlier.

"Overreacting?" Hermione hissed. " _Overreacting?_ I just caught you in bed with another woman, and I'm **_overreacting_**?" Her voice reached a pitch that she didn't know was possible.

"I was drunk! It's not my fault that I slept with her! It meant nothing!" Ron cried as he dodged a coffee mug she threw at him.

"I have never known you to do something drunk that you wouldn't do sober!" Hermione shouted, preparing to throw another mug. "I can't believe that after all we've been through you would cheat on me! And don't you fucking dare say it's not cheating because you were drunk. Being drunk had nothing to do with it!"

"Hermione, love, you need to calm down." Ron said, wincing as a book collided with his arm.

"Get out." Hermione whispered.

"What?" Ron gaped at her.

"Get. Out." Hermione repeated louder this time, pointing her wand at him. "We're done. I'll pack up your things and send them to the Burrow or wherever the hell you decide to stay."

"What, are you just going to throw away our relationship? Six years just down the drain?" Ron shouted.

"Yes! Yes I bloody well am!" Hermione shouted back. "Now get the hell out of my flat and don't ever come back here!"

"Fine!" Ron yelled as he stood up. "Like I want to date such a stuck up bitch anyways. Oh, and you know, you're right. I didn't cheat on you because I was drunk. I've actually been sleeping with her for weeks, and you know? She's so much better in bed than a boring know-it-all bookworm like you!" He didn't give her the chance to respond as he walked out, slamming the door behind him as he left.

Hermione let out one last scream of rage before collapsing on the floor in tears. Six years of her life, _six years_ , and this is what she had to show for it. She should have known that things wouldn't have worked out. They were just too different, she and Ron. He was right, she was a know-it-all bookworm, and he would never really understand her or her thirst for knowledge, just like she could never understand his him and his love of Quidditch.

After crying for what seemed like hours, she stood up and brushed the dust off of her skirt. She used magic to pack up all of his things that were spread around the flat. Once all of his belongings were packed up into boxes – _only five of them,_ she mused – she shrunk them, put them in her pocket, and walked over to her fireplace.

"The Burrow!" She called out as she stepped through the floo. She came out on the other side only to be presented with the man she'd least like to see, currently in a conversation with his mother. He took one look at her before glaring and turning to leave the room.

Molly looked back and forth between Hermione and the doorway her son had just walked through. "What on earth happened between the two of you? Ron just told me that you broke up with him and threw him out of the apartment."

Hermione snorted and sat down on the couch by the fireplace. "Did he also tell you that the reason I did that is because I caught him in bed with another woman who he has apparently been sleeping with for weeks?"

"No, he did not! That boy. I raised him better than that." Molly huffed. "Would you like some tea, dear? It always seems to cheer me up when I'm sad." The older woman smiled at Hermione.

Hermione sighed. "Tea would be lovely right now. Honestly, I'm not even that sad. Right now I'm just angry. Oh, here are Ron's things." She said as she pulled the shrunken boxes out of her pocket, setting them on the ground and charming them back to full size.

"I ought to tell Ron to find his own place to stay. Really, cheating on you like that." Molly muttered. "Well, come on to the kitchen then. I'm sure talking over a nice cup of tea would probably be helpful right now." Hermione nodded and followed the older woman into the kitchen.

"He said what?" Ginny, who had arrived while Molly was making tea, shrieked at her best friend.

"He said that I was a boring know-it-all bookworm who was bad in bed." Hermione repeated plainly. "Not like he can talk, really. His dick is quite a bit like the great state of Rhode Island." At Ginny's raised eyebrow and Molly's questioning look she smirked. "It's got a proud history, but it's not very big." Ginny burst into laughter at that and Molly let out a small chuckle.

"You know, Hermione," Ginny said between laughs. "Most people would probably feel awkward talking about this to their ex-boyfriend's mother and sister."

"I'm not most people." Hermione said, grinning as a thought popped into her head. "You know, I could spread all types of rumors about what he's like in bed; he bleats like a goat when he orgasms, he likes to be called a pretty princess, things like that. I have a lot of power here, don't I?"

"Hermione, are you sure you weren't actually sorted into Slytherin?" Ginny asked as she shared a look with her mother.

"Of course I wasn't, though the hat did seem to think I would have done well there." Hermione said with a wave of her hand. "I've always been a vengeful person, Ginny, you know this."

Ginny was stopped from responding when the floo activated and Harry came through. "Hermione," Harry said as he caught sight of her. "What's this I hear about you breaking up with Ron and throwing him out of your flat?"

Hermione huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "So he's gone and complained to you about it too then?" Hermione didn't give him a chance to respond before continuing. "He cheated on me. Apparently it's been going on for weeks. I found out this morning when I walked in on him and the girl he was with."

"He what?" Harry gaped at her. "That piece of shit!"

Hermione snorted. "Yeah, that's what I said. He's not going to get away with it, of course. I still have a very nice working relationship with Rita Skeeter," Meaning she still had blackmail material on the woman. "And I'll let her spin the tale as much as she wants as long as she keeps the fact that Ron's a cheating bastard straight. It's about time Ronald Weasley learns that I am not a woman to be trifled with."

* * *

Hermione grinned at the headline on the newest edition of the Daily Prophet.

 ** _Ronald Weasley cheats on War Heroine Hermione Granger! Is this the end of the Golden Trio?_**

The article went on to explain the situation between Hermione and her ex-boyfriend, complete with outlandish details that Hermione couldn't imagine anyone would believe, but since they were said in an "interview" with her, people would believe them. For once she was thankful for Skeeter's Quick Quotes Quill.

"You bitch!" Her reading was interrupted as Ron stormed into her office, throwing down his copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Hello Ronald. Look, we made the front page." Hermione said with a calm smile.

"How dare you say things like that about me!" The redhead shouted. "After everything I've done for you, this is how you repay me?"

"Everything you've done for me?" Hermione asked, her smile still in place. "You mean like cheating on me, leaving Harry and me alone on our horcrux hunt, and completely turning your back on my in fourth year just because I went to the Yule Ball with someone who wasn't you? That stuff?" Ron stared at her, his mouth wide open. "You should close your mouth, Ronald; you might catch flies. Also, if you would please get out of my office, that would be lovely. I, unlike you, have work that needs to be done."

"Fine." He said, his mouth twisting into a sneer. "You know, I could go to the papers too. Who do you think they would believe, you or me?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at the man. "If you went to the papers now, it would just look petty. Besides, who are you going to give an interview to? Rita Skeeter is the best known and, surprisingly, most credible reporter on staff at the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly, and nobody at the Quibbler would do it as I've already spoken to Luna about this. Sorry, there's absolutely nothing you can do. Now get out of my office before I hex you." He glared at her one more time before whirling around and leaving the room, slamming the door on his way out.

She sighed as she started to look over the House Elf reforms she had been working on. After half an hour of trying to work and getting distracted, she got up and walked out of her office. "June," she said to her secretary. "I'm taking an early lunch today. I'll be back in an hour."

* * *

"He came into my office and yelled at me earlier." Hermione said to Ginny, who she had dragged along to lunch.

"What did he say?" Ginny asked before taking a bite of the sandwich she had ordered at the small deli they were dining in.

"He called me a bitch, asked me how I could go to the Daily Prophet about this 'after everything he's done for me', and then threatened to go to the papers himself. I told him going to the papers would be petty and that nobody would interview him and then he left." Hermione smirked. "He deserves everything that was said in that article and more, and if he tries to retaliate, there are quite a few more things I can say about him. He got of lightly. I could completely destroy his reputation."

"Well, he's already lost the respect of pretty much our entire family. Fred and George banned him from the shop. Mum and Dad kicked him out of the Burrow until he apologizes. Honestly, I've never seen Dad so mad. Fleur almost cursed him when he came begging to stay with her and Bill, and even Harry told him to get lost when he came to us to ask if he could stay in Grimmauld Place." Ginny scowled. "He started yelling and woke up James, just after I had finally gotten him to sleep. Luckily this little one is easy to get back to sleep." She said, smiling and reaching into the stroller beside her to run her hand through her newborn son's hair. "Anyways," Ginny continued a moment later. "My family is done with him for the time being."

Hermione frowned. "I didn't mean for you all to turn against him. It's my problem, and I didn't mean for everyone else to get involved."

"Hermione, you're family. You have been for more than ten years. When someone hurts you, even one of our own, we're going to stand beside you no matter what. That's what family does." Ginny said as she reached across the table to grasp Hermione's hand in her own. "We're going out tonight."

"Wait, going out?" Hermione asked.

"Yep." Ginny smirked. "You, me, Fleur, Angelina, Alicia, and Audrey. We're going to have a girls' night, and you are going to enjoy it. It's time to show Ronald Bilius Weasley just how much he means to you."

"Ginny, you know how I feel about clubs." Hermione complained, but the look on Ginny's face told her that she wasn't going to get out of it.

* * *

"I would just like to say that I don't want to be here _at all._ " Hermione said as the group of women walked into the nightclub. Somehow Ginny and Angelina had convinced her to wear a skirt and halter top that didn't leave much to the imagination, and she was already starting to get looks from men that made her uncomfortable.

"We know, honey. We just don't care." Audrey Weasley said, grinning. Percy's wife couldn't be more different than her husband. Where Percy was bookish and a stickler for rules, Audrey was wild and thought rules were made to be broken. They had met after Audrey had been arrested for cursing a muggle that had threatened her little sister. Percy had been the one to represent her at her hearing, and the two had hit it off. "Now come dance with me." She didn't give Hermione a chance to protest before grabbing her hand and dragging her onto the dance floor.

Hermione groaned as she was dragged away, turning to give the other girls a pleading look, but they had all spread out to dance and get drinks. After fifteen minutes of dancing (torture), Hermione finally managed to slip away from the Weasley woman.

"Hey there, cutie." A man said as she sat down at the bar. "Can I buy you a drink?" Hermione looked at the man, noting that he was blond and very muscular, before agreeing. He waved the bartender over. "Something nice for the lady." The bartender nodded once before turning to make her drink. "So, what brings a pretty girl like you here to this club?"

"My friends thought I could do with a girls' night out." At his raised eyebrow, she elaborated. "I found out yesterday that my now ex-boyfriend has been cheating on me for weeks."

The man winced. "That sucks. Men can be real assholes. I've dated a few guys like that myself, unfortunately."

"Ron and I were together for six years. Six _fucking_ years. I can't believe I wasted six years of my life on that bastard." Hermione growled into the screwdriver that the bartender had set in front of her. "We were friends for seven years before we started dating. You'd think I'd know what he's like." Tears were once again threatening to spill from her eyes and she wiped them away angrily. "You know what? Fuck him. _Fuck him_ I came here to get my mind off of him, and that's exactly what I'm going to do." She said, quickly downing the rest of her drink. "Thanks for the talk. I needed that."

"No problem." The man smiled. "Now you go out there and have some fun." Hermione nodded before turning and going back to the dance floor to find one of her companions.

"So, having fun yet Hermione?" Angelina shouted over the loud music as she danced against Alicia. Hermione nodded, grinning widely and throwing herself into her own dancing with Ginny. Somehow all six of their group had congregated at the center of the dance floor. As they danced together, Hermione noticed men staring at them, and she swayed her hips just a bit more intensely.

They danced until their feet were almost too sore to stand when Hermione proposed that they go back to her flat and watch chick flics. Each of the women called their husbands to let them know that they wouldn't be home that night before all apparating to the flat. "So what are we going to watch?" Audrey asked as she plopped down on Hermione's couch.

"I was thinking _Mean Girls, 27 Dresses,_ and _Leap Year_ to start with." Hermione answered as she took her shoes off.

"Oh, those are good ones." Fleur said, sitting down beside Audrey. "I love the scene in _Leap Year_ where he tells the story of Diarmuid and Grainne. So sweet."

"Okay, let me go make popcorn and then I'll start that one." Hermione walked into the kitchen. She was glad to have such good friends who would do things like this to help her keep her mind off of everything going wrong in her life. After a lifetime with very few friends, almost none of them girls, it was nice to know that most of her friends at this point were women.

* * *

"Hey Hermione." Alicia called, walking into the kitchen. "I just flooed Fred. He's bringing ice cream." Alicia, who was three months pregnant with her and Fred's first child, had ben craving ice cream non-stop for almost five weeks. "I told him to make sure he brought butter pecan, I know it's your favorite."

"Thanks, Alicia." Hermione smiled at her friend. "Could you help me carry this popcorn into the living room? I don't want to drop any."

"Hermione, you're a witch." She replied, flicking her wand and levitating the bowls in front of her. "Now let's go start that movie. I've never seen _Leap Year_ , but I hear it's really good."

"Oh, it is. It's my favorite rom-com." Hermione said, following after the former Chaser. "Alright ladies, the time has come to watch chick flics and eat popcorn." Hermione said dramatically. "Thanks everyone for doing this for me. I didn't know how much I needed this. Oh, and if I ever start dating a guy like Ron again, please slap me and tell me how much of an idiot I'm being."

"Here, here!" Audrey exclaimed, raising a glass of wine that she had somehow procured. "Now start the damn film already." Hermione smiled and put _Leap Year_ in the DVD player while the rest of the women settled into their chairs. Half an hour into the movie, Fred showed up with ice cream and they all dug in. By the time she put the third movie in, she and Fleur were the only ones still awake.

Eventually, even Fleur fell asleep. As Hermione looked at her friends piled up together, she realized that she was the happiest she had been since the end of the war. _I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world._ She smiled as she, too, drifted off to sleep.


End file.
